Wheelchair rugby: Men on wheels who bend steel

By PATRICK GOWER

A wheelchair rugby slogan says: "It doesn't feel real until you bend some steel."

There was plenty of steel-bending at yesterday's national championships in Hamilton, when Canterbury's weekend of rugby domination ended as the Southern North Island Storm beat their opponents 48-47 in a nail-biting final.

The match went into two periods of extra time before the Storm broke the deadlock and scored with two seconds to go.

Like their NPC counterparts the night before, many of the wheelchair athletes were playing for more than the trophy cabinet.

Places in the 12-man Wheel-Blacks squad to play Australia in December and go on to the World Championships in Sweden were also up for grabs.

The tension was evident during both the final and the play-off for third and fourth between Auckland and a second Canterbury team, won 49-37 by Auckland.

Wheelchair rugby is played worldwide and was the most popular team sport for spectators at last year's Sydney Paralympics.

"There's nothing like getting down and watching this game courtside," said tournament director Isaac Rakena.

Also courtside was Wheel-Blacks captain Jeremy Tinker, who missed most of the championships because of illness, but was still named last night to lead the squad.

He will be fit for the game against Australia, when the New Zealanders will be looking to avenge their one-point loss at the Paralympics that left them with the bronze medal.

They suffered a similar gut-wrenching loss in this year's Chris Handy Cup, the equivalent of the Bledisloe Cup.

Tinker and the Wheel-Blacks coaching staff are confident of success - so confident that they have named their World Championships squad even before they have qualified.

They will play Japan and South Africa as well as Australia to win one of the two places from the Oceania zone.

"We have a more balanced team than the Aussies," said Tinker. "We're full of ball-handlers and play-makers where they have just two players that they really rely on."

Four athletes from each team are allowed on the rugby field - a full-sized basketball court - at any one time.

They use custom-made wheelchairs and "block" as players do in American Football. Some of the rules are derived from ice hockey.

Players must have a combination of impairments to their limbs.

Their impairments usually come from broken necks, and national president Andy Parkinson believes that is why the players throw themselves around the court without fear or favour.

"Most of these guys have broken their necks before, so they are not going to be too worried."

Tinker is one of many wheelchair athletes who was injured playing rugby.

While wheelchair rugby seems a mix of any number of sports, he says it is close enough to rugby for him to be on the court as soon as he was able to push a wheelchair after his accident.

One similarity is clear - Australia are still the traditional rivals.

And the Wheel-Blacks' slogan? "Keep on pushing."